As for the West’s hostility toward Belarus, that is something that can switch on a dime if the color revolution that they have already tried to pull off once and will certainly try again in the future works out. They are even preparing for the possibility of a military overthrow using armed Belarussian dissidents out of Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania if they perceive that the Belarussian state is sufficiently weak. A Belarus under a puppet regime that is totally subservient to the West would not be considered hostile anymore, it would immediately start to do what Ukraine’s regime did after 2014 which is cut ties with whoever the West tells them to cut ties with - i.e. Russia and China - and will go on to implement brutal neoliberal reforms on the economy, dismantle its industries and sell the country off to Western corporate and financial interests.

The possibility that this succeeds is very low for the time being, so long as Russia remains stable and strong they will never allow that to happen, just like they didn’t in Kazakhstan. But Belarus needs to stay vigilant because the West may get desperate enough to try to roll the dice on some foolish gambit.